Maryna Barsuk: “Errand judge” for sanctioned billionaires and former top managers

Maryna Barsuk: “Errand judge” for sanctioned billionaires and former top managers

Her and her husband’s "contracts" from Petro Poroshenko are no less interesting, and that’s a separate story. Since then, one fled from sanctions to England, another moved to a pre-trial detention center, and a third is under strict sanctions and legal prosecution. Meanwhile, the servant of the oligarchs of Femida, Maryna Barsuk, feels great, increasing her astronomical income by serving top officials and oligarchs and is actively engaged in public relations, hoping for a higher position.

Maryna Barsuk: “Errand judge” for sanctioned billionaires and former top managers

Ihor Kolomoiskyi, Maryna and Viktor Barsuk

On July 4, Barsuk published a program article on "Ukrainian Pravda" about the transformation of the judicial system entitled "Courts are changing: facts that speak for themselves." Before that, on June 23, she presented the results of a survey of citizens about what they like (or dislike) in the appellate commercial court. And in May, she wrote a blog about how communication principles with the press build trust in the court. We don’t know about the press, but Maryna Barsuk has mastered communication with sanctioned wealthy individuals exquisitely, having founded a club of illegal Femida-business mutual assistance on an industrial scale, though more on that below.

What is behind the increased public activity of the judge remains a matter of speculation. The first thing that comes to mind is big career plans. Given the ever-changing personnel in different branches of power, it should not be ruled out that the shrewd judge Barsuk, with the mannerisms of a distinguished businessperson, has planned a profitable spot for herself and is nurturing plans to move vertically or horizontally within the judiciary system. Moreover, there is information that Oleh Khrypun’s many years of leadership at PAGS are coming to an end, with whom Maryna has worked since her youth at the Kyiv Commercial Court, and she is aimed at his position.

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Of course, career plans go hand in hand with plans to multiply wealth - real estate, cars, monetary assets. Forge the iron while clients pay!

Possibly, the hopes of the ambitious careerist and greedy Maryna for promotion are the most realistic reason for media activity. However, whether she will be allowed into power within the vertical of commercial justice, considering the specific background, is a big question.

The beginning of the journey

In none of the numerous publications about Maryna is her birth date mentioned for some reason. It’s a pity because our heroine was born on January 1, 1978. A holiday gift for her parents - prosecutor Anatoliy Yakovenko, who at one time oversaw the penitentiary system in the OPG (died in 2020) and Antonina Mykhailivna, who, according to acquaintances of the judge, now lives in London with her grandchildren. Also living there is Maryna’s son from her first marriage, Vadym Didychenko, born in 2004, and his younger brother Tymur Pryvalov, son of Kyiv region’s Commercial Court judge Artem Pryvalov.

Vadym (by the way, as he writes about himself on Linkedin - a two-time champion of Ukraine among juniors in jet skiing) registered his own business in London on May 30, 2025, under the name Coral Enterprise Ltd, selling dried fish and seafood. According to registration documents, his partner and director is Nataliya Sviting with British citizenship. The love for fish is family-oriented. At one time, Maryna’s father, using the corrupt advantages of his prosecutorial position, helped her mother obtain, at a nominal price, nearly 1,000 hectares of reservoir, on which a successful fisheries enterprise was established. The mother of the investigation’s protagonist owned LLC "Uspensky Fisheries." The successful experience of the "fish business" is now likely being implemented on the banks of the Thames. Meanwhile, Maryna successfully "catches the fish in the murky waters" of the judicial "banks" of the Dnipro River.

However, as will be evident later, over time, Ms. Maryna became a gift not only for her parents but also for a number of extremely odious individuals - former oligarchs and officials - Fuks, Hranovskyi, Poroshenko, and others.

Maryna herself graduated from Kyiv University named after Shevchenko in 2001 and immediately joined the capital’s commercial court. Initially as a judge’s assistant, and from 2006 as a judge. She was mentored there by Vasyl Saranyuk, who, thanks to his proximity to the well-known lawyer Igor Pukshyn, then deputy head of the Secretariat of President Viktor Yushchenko, obtained the position of court head in 2007.

Saranyuk formed a "cooperative" of young judges, including Maryna (then Didychenko), for passing favorable decisions. Internet resources wrote about this. The "cooperative" also included Maryna’s first husband, whom her influential prosecutor father-in-law (Maryna’s father) helped secure a judge position. As will become clearer later, during Maryna’s first marriage, there was a rehearsal of the corruption-judicial contract that would bloom in the second marriage, to be detailed in the latter part of the investigation.

During Saranyuk’s leadership, the skill of Ms. Didychenko, now Ms. Barsuk, grew - in 2009, she was entrusted to render verdicts in favor of "Roshen," potentially laying the foundation of the "money for ’correct’ judicial decisions" program between Poroshenko and Maryna Barsuk, more on which will follow. Thanks to this, despite a meager salary, she moved from her parents’ apartment on Troyeshchyna, Balzac St. 55, to the most fashionable housing of those times - the so-called "Obolon Lypky" in an apartment of 132 sq. m.

Maryna Barsuk: “Errand judge” for sanctioned billionaires and former top managers

Petro Poroshenko

We won’t claim definitively, but a potential source of funds might be explained by the peculiar stability in the distribution of cases of the Russian "Alfa-Bank." In 2009 alone, she issued 15 judgments in favor of "Alfa-Bank." The result of the reviews - the Russian bank structure won lawsuits amounting to $13.6 million and 16 million UAH. (it should be reminded that the exchange rate then was 8 UAH per dollar). According to the media, a characteristic feature in reviewing these cases was that defendants were not invited to court sessions. Consequently, they had no opportunity to present their arguments. Needless to say, from judge Didychenko (let’s remind, that was Maryna Barsuk’s surname then), this was a gross violation of key judicial principles. The "scales of justice" in Maryna’s hands were overtly tilted toward a particular side - the one where hefty sums awaited. This became the principle (if this word is appropriate) in her career as a "judge for hire."

From Portnov to Aleksyeyev

In 2010, Yanukovych came to power, and the recently murdered in Spain, Andriy Portnov, became Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration and simultaneously head of the Department for Justice Reform and Judicial Administration. At the end of March 2010, he entered the Higher Justice Council and began directly influencing the appointment and dismissal of judges.

It was precisely at this time (in 2011) that Saranyuk was transferred to the Higher Commercial Court of Ukraine, and Didychenko became a judge indefinitely. In 2012, Maryna was transferred to the appellate instance.

Portnov’s power over the judicial community ended with the Euromaidan. At this time, judge Didychenko became closer to lawyer Serhiy Aleksyeyev, who, since 2003, was a partner of Serhiy Boyarchuk in the law firm "Aleksyeyev, Boyarchuk and Partners." The Boyarchuk family is Maryna’s relatives on her mother’s side: Serhiy Boyarchuk is Maryna’s cousin.

Aleksyeyev was considered a person close to Vitaliy Klychko, but since "UDAR" did not go to the 2014 elections, he moved to Poroshenko and twice (in 2014 and in 2019) became a parliamentarian on his parties’ lists, BPP and "European Solidarity." Serhiy Aleksyeyev immediately won the sympathy and trust of the party boss thanks to his ability to "resolve issues." Very quickly, the law firm "Aleksyeyev, Boyarchuk, and Partners" transformed from a contractor on certain cases into the legal division of Petro Poroshenko’s large business holding, handling a significant portion of the legal problems for the fifth President.

At that time, from 2014 to 2019, Didychenko rendered judgments benefiting Aleksyeyev’s clients, especially in cases around "Ukrsotsbank" and the premises of the future Klychko’s hotel 11 Mirrors Design Hotel, while her father was listed as an MP’s assistant with a salary, despite working in a senior position in the General Prosecutor’s Office. This occurred as Anatoliy Yakovenko felt he was gradually losing his position in the GPO, and the family still needed to be fed.

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Assisted by Aleksyeyev, Maryna tried to get into the Supreme Court in 2017, but scored only 58.5 competition points out of 90, and instead got caught up in a scandal with a recording of a conversation with an MP, where he instructed the transfer of $5,000 to her for a decision.

An important detail. The astute and charming Maryna approached "Aleksyeyev, Boyarchuk, and Partners" from two sides. Besides blood relations (she’s Boyarchuk’s cousin, let’s recall), she charmed Aleksyeyev and became his lover. Thus, the law firm (read - the legal branch of Poroshenko’s holding) was taken by Maryna, in military terms, in pincers. Such deep partnership clearly indicates - essentially, Maryna Didychenko was "on retainer" with Petro Poroshenko.

This should be dwelt upon separately. The fact is, thanks to Aleksyeyev and Boyarchuk, besides "Alfa-Bank," the "incorruptible" Maryna gained another favorite bank - "Ukrsotsbank," a client of the law firm "Aleksyeyev, Boyarchuk, and Partners."

Ten years ago - in 2015 - then-MP Aleksyeyev (and not just an MP, but a deputy head of the Ukrainian Parliament’s Committee on Legal Policy and Judicial Affairs) was accused of corrupt activities and lobbying the interests of his law firm "Aleksyeyev, Boyarchuk, and Partners." This concerned the same case where Judge Maryna Didychenko issued legally questionable decisions in favor of "Ukrsotsbank."

The scandal was loud. The construction company "Alliance" entered into an agreement with "Ukrsotsbank" to receive a 55 million UAH loan. But when it came time to disburse the loan, the bank said there wasn’t enough money in UAH. "Alliance" - because where else to go, future homebuyers should receive housing - was forced to sign another agreement with "Ukrsotsbank." This time a foreign currency loan, part of which was indeed provided by the bank. But at a certain point, the bank ceased fulfilling its obligations to the borrower. "Alliance" was thus forced to freeze construction work. As a result, "Alliance" had to forget about income. But in addition, "Aleksyeyev, Boyarchuk, and Partners" attacked from another angle - no income, no way to pay off the loan, hence the law firm collected the developer’s properties for "Ukrsotsbank" through the Commercial Court of Kyiv. Case proceedings were always entrusted to judge Maryna Didychenko. An audacious scheme - intentional debt entrapment to seize the property! Not to mention the shattered housing hopes of those "conned" by the law firm "Aleksyeyev, Boyarchuk, and Partners," "Ukrsotsbank," and judge Didychenko...

Era of Barsuk

Maryna’s current husband was born on November 28, 1977, in the Zhytomyr region. In 2003, right after receiving his lawyer certification and registering an LLC with the grand name "Protective Firm ’Helsinki Group,’" he got a job with Oleh Zhevaho (brother of businessman Kostyantyn Zhevaho) at the law firm "Finance and Credit Lex."

Maryna Barsuk: “Errand judge” for sanctioned billionaires and former top managers

Viktor Barsuk

It was headed by Anzhelika Labunska, who already had a heap of personal businesses and an illegitimate son by that time. A romance sparked between Labunska and the 10-year-younger Barsuk: they quickly got married, having their first son in 2005 and the second in 2009.

In 2006, Labunska became a People’s Deputy from BYuT, and her husband - the director of the law firm. He served not only the business of the Zhevaho brothers but also other solvent clients. The Smorodina Business Center appeared in Kyiv, development in Novi Petrivtsi (where Barsuk’s brother Oleh was appointed manager), and a fleet of luxury “Mercedes,” which later became his “dowry” in marriage to Maryna, now appearing in her declaration.

In 2014, Labunska, a confidante of Petro Poroshenko in the elections, introduced Barsuk to the new President’s entourage. Viktor renamed his old law firm to FCLEX, changed co-owners, and began working for Ihor Kononenko and Oleksandr Hranovskyi, who held the same role in influencing judges and organizing decisions for Poroshenko as Portnov held for Yanukovych. All this while continuing to serve Zhevaho at the highest rates.

Maryna Barsuk: “Errand judge” for sanctioned billionaires and former top managers

Anzhelika Labunska

In 2019, the regime changed. Zhevaho lost elections, and the State Bureau of Investigations declared him wanted over the embezzlement of funds from the "Finance and Credit" bank. Barsuk pushed his wife towards a divorce and the division of property acquired thanks to her. And indeed - why need an old wife who no longer has political and business influence when there are young, beautiful, and commercially promising women in the judicial corps with influential parents and vast experience in using the "scales of justice" for massive personal enrichment!

Dividing assets amicably wasn’t feasible: in April 2019, Labunska made a public statement that her husband threatened to take away her youngest sons. The situation was highly cynical since Barsuk blackmailed his "former" with joint children just months after Labunska’s eldest son suddenly passed away in his sleep from heart failure. And he even pulled in Hranovskyi for the matter.

However, Hranovskyi already held no significant influence. Portnov returned to Ukraine, whom then-head of OP Andriy Bohdan called his long-time friend. Portnov had joint business in the Russian Federation with Pavlo Fuks, considering the assets of the fugitive Zhevaho.

Once, at a party on the Cote d’Azur, Barsuk approached Fuks, offering his legal services in fighting against Zhevaho, using the arsenal of internal information gained from years of high-paid service for the latter.

For “such as needed” decisions partners required a trusted judge, unburdened by conscience or professional honor. Miraculously, the computer system distributed cases in the register to Maryna Didychenko. In a year of partnership in the sphere of Zhevaho-Fuks, she grew so close to Viktor Barsuk that she became Maryna Barsuk. Rumor has it, based on solid grounds, Viktor was very pleased that through familial ties - once again, Maryna is the cousin of the brightly corrupt lawyer Boyarchuk, who along with corrupt partner Aleksyeyev (an MP from "European Solidarity") has long served the interests of Poroshenko - they could reapproach such a solvent client as the fifth President of Ukraine.

However, scandals around attending the jubilee of already sanctioned Fuks and the actual wedding of Maryna and Viktor with Fuks and Kolomoiskyi present, not to mention the resonance around property division with Labunska, negatively impacted Viktor Barsuk’s legal career. He is primarily regarded in professional circles as a spineless political opportunist and "gigolo" of jurisprudence, who left a spouse along with her loss of influence and transitioned to another woman, who was already a "star" of the corruption-judicial market with great prospects.

Already in 2021, he left the founders of his law firm, now called Equity, and almost disappeared from media and legal space. In 2023, he published a book "Inadmissible Evidence" with Kolomoiskyi’s lawyer Oleksandr Lysak. Since then, he seemingly received no attractive offers.

Therefore, as informed sources say, in the "Barsukov lawyers" family contract, the "impartial" Maryna has come to the forefront, like a market inspector of the district fruit and vegetable market. The fact that Maryna Barsuk declared 12 real estate properties of various types from garages to private houses and land plots in 2023 indicates significant material achievements of the family. In particular, she purchased a private house of 222 square meters for 9 million hryvnias, as well as a land plot worth 11 million. Her salary is high by Ukrainian standards - 170 thousand hryvnias per month - but clearly does not correspond to the real state of affairs. Unfortunately, this discrepancy has not yet become the focus of anti-corruption bodies. However, people with a sense of humor appreciated the fact that Mrs. Barsuk has recently made considerable public efforts in the topic of "trust in the court". Something from the series - rock against drugs, or prostitutes for virginity.

Interim results

So, among Maryna Barsuk’s clients were the most notorious figures of Ukrainian business and politics - Poroshenko, Zhevaho, Fuks, Kolomoiskyi, Hranovskyi. Sanctions were imposed against all of them by Ukraine, except for Granovsky, who has been "noted" by sanctions only by the National Bank. All these people blatantly crossed all the "red lines" and did so in a country that is bleeding, heroically defending its right to exist in the world.

On the part of Maryna Barsuk, there is systematic work for Ukraine’s internal enemies. There is also assistance in avoiding sanctions, because it is this "service" that is in demand. There is unpleasant news for Maryna Barsuk here - in early June, the Verkhovna Rada adopted in the first reading a law on criminal liability for circumventing sanctions. This crime will be classified as a "serious" one.

But that is not today’s issue, and huge amounts of money from clients are flowing like a full-flowing river into the pockets of the "Barsukov family". Let’s take the last pre-war year. According to the Ukrainian Forbes ranking, Zhevaho’s fortune is 2.4 billion dollars, Kolomoiskyi’s is 1.8 billion dollars, Poroshenko’s is 1.6 billion dollars, Fuks’s is 165 million dollars. Together - almost 6 billion dollars. For comparison - this is the value of one of the largest military aid packages provided to Ukraine by the USA during the SVO, which included Patriot, HIMARS, and NASAMS systems. Or the amount for which weapons were purchased from domestic manufacturers through the budget last year.

Of course, Maryna Barsuk is not bothered by questions of how and in what way Ukraine will defend its statehood. She is only concerned about her own corrupt income from servicing individuals who have earned billions of dollars by squeezing the last juices out of Ukraine.

With such mega-rich clients and fees corresponding to their status, nothing threatens her personally - she can get in one of her "Mercedes" and drive off. With such solvent clients, it is likely that she and her husband have built more than one cozy family nest in prestigious corners of Europe. She might even change her area of activity. For example, considering the parental stakes in Ukraine and her son’s English business, she could establish a "Fish and Chips from the Barsukovs" firm to feed the London dandies.

New horizons

According to rumors, recently people from Poroshenko’s entourage, through old connections, approached Maryna Barsuk’s husband to propose working for them, including in the case concerning 38 million euros, which the previous President allegedly received from Moscow, and to incline Maryna to this, who is gaining authority in that part of the judicial environment that serves the interests of the wealthy. We have not found independent confirmation of this, nor refutation. However, there is logic in this - a "dealer" from politics will find a "dealer" from the judiciary. Again, considering the family inclinations of the Barsukovs, "a fisherman sees a fisherman from afar".

Judge Barsuk does have experience working with the former President and his close associates. For example, in the case where over 160 million hryvnias were embezzled on fuel procurement for "Ukrzaliznytsia", the person found guilty was the then Deputy Minister of Defence Pavlovskyi, who became a typical "scapegoat". In reality, Hranovskyi was the direct beneficiary. And indirectly, knowledgeable people say, the "gray-haired hetman" Poroshenko. Hranovskyi’s (read Poroshenko) interests were represented in court by Viktor, and Maryna assisted in resolving the issue. A great example of loving people not forgetting to help each other in matters of business.

Nevertheless, if the "sorceress" of dirty judicial affairs Maryna Barsuk is indeed set on gaining a higher or more influential position in the judicial system and continues to use her and her husband’s numerous "achievements" to replenish the family car fleet of prestigious cars and acquire new elite real estate, she must be more cautious. All the more so that not all the interesting moments of her multifaceted judicial history have been made public yet.

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